Which PC for £500

Dylan; thanks. Seriously if anyone just posted a link to where something suitable is on sale I will buy it. I really doubt I will notice the difference between one and another. Keeping in mind that the computer I have been using for the last 2 years is ancient and has a total memory capacity of 10Gb. I am not sure what that means but I have heard it is pretty low. So anything new is surely going to be a lot better?
This PC has been dying for a few weeks and today had some sort of seizure; everything went. Luckily I didn't have anything important like photos stored on it. Though since I have lost my passwords and (apparently) my Yahoo account I can't get in to my Flickr site which is a bit frightening.
Anyway I am a tad pissed off. I can hardly afford a new computer but need one for work. So, someone, somewhere, just tell me what to buy.
Ot atleast tell me what I should be Googling in order to do the work myself.

sure i'll fire a few off. Gimme a min.

I have my prefererances and everyone else will have theirs, but i always thought HP Business models to be very good in terms of no frills apperance, no marketing markup, no bullshit, full of the good stuff that people need rather than usless stuff made to make it sell better to clueless.

i have a 7 year old HP laptop, that's still faster than my other halfs computer wheich was bought 1 year ago. problems = none, not one issue. Amazing really.

Thanks, take your time though, I am just venting a bit because there was a ready made thread. I do probably need to buy it this week though.
And yes I know if someone came on here asking which OTP to buy the way I am asking about a PC then.... so from now on I will be nicer to those cycling innocents.

build your own PC. Awesome satisfaction and cheaper too.

Got my shopping list together for building a hackintosh. Which should be fun!

Bikes are way more complicated to put together than a PC. Having done both using only google and zero experience I'd knock together a PC and install an OS myself tomorrow and give the box of bike parts to a shop.

[B][B]HP ProBook 4510s[/B][/B]

for just over £300, it's bombproof

heres the link to HP

if you say had £600 then that would get you a little faster, better graphics, bigger screen and is lighter. But if you don't need it why buy it!

anwyay quick glance at Hp and they're doing a £150 trade in! WIN

oh, buy new, 2nd hand gives you tons of ballaches.

wiganwill, a surprising answer to your need is TESCO.

It comes as no shock to anyone, that when I wanted to buy a new computer, I made a list.

I bet that made you smile/grimace....Anyway, for spec and price and customer service, Tesco couldn't be beaten.

I had very, very carefully checked what the repairs and back up systems were for each product, and in most cases, if something went wrong with your new computer after 2 weeks, it was sent away to a third party contractor for repair. I subsequently checked out these contractors, and all the tales were of woe and tears. Tesco though, take their name brand very seriously, and when I had a problem, they replaced it instore. The paperwork and chasing about would be between them and the woeful contractual repairers. This, plus their keen pricing, had me become a customer of theirs, for the very first time.

PCs

Laptops

Mmm, 333 ex VAT: a bit too steep for me.
Thanks though. I will do a bit of Googling myself.
Ok, tech heads: why can I not sign in to my Flickr account? I have a Yahoo ID which I have just used to sign in to a Yahoo group which I use so the ID and password is still working. But trying to use the same info to get in to Flickr doesn't work. It keeps telling me I am opening a new account. Not being able to get to my Flickr account is kind of terrifying.

Will there is a £150 trade in, as in you old computer ! £333 - £150 = £188. that's the cheapest.

Why would they want my old computer and what would they do with it? It doesn't work hardly?

I was not think in getting a new computer, what at that price and whith the trade in.... really thinking about it.... time to think

Why would they want my old computer and what would they do with it? It doesn't work hardly?

they say they want and old shitty PC, give it, and take the £150. Read the offer. There are conditions, see if you meet them, and if you do your quids in. They even offer to pay £10 towards sending it in the post.

Laptops

these are the consumer market laptops, which are poo in my experience.

these are the consumer market laptops, which are poo in my experience.

ALL 9 pages of laptops listed are no good? Wow. You're not an easy one to please then?

these are the consumer market laptops, which are poo in my experience.

What about the PCs? My nephew works for Tesco and gets staff discount so it could become a good deal for me.
And when an ad says "2GB, 250GB" what does that mean? Is 3GB a lot better than 2? Is 320GB a lot better than 250?

the bigger the better, always
2 better than 3, think in beers, or in girls, or in bikes

But at what price Rik? Paying a lot more for a little extra? Is it worth it?

I like the £366 one, trading my old one is around £200, no bad my thinks, plus you only deal with HP, that I think will be good for customer care

I hope this doesn't come across as condescending Will but basically:

The big number (eg 250GB, 320GB) is the amount of storage space (you said you used to have 10GB), this won't really affect the performance of the computer and unless you have a lot of music/photos/films. Anything over 100GB will be enough.

The smaller number (between 1GB and 4GB) is the amount of memory the computer has for making calculations it needs there and then. More of this is good if you want to run lots of programs at the same time although if you just have simple applications running (eg word, internet explorer) it will be fine with 1GB or 2GB.

I haven't really been interested in computers for a few years but I'll have a look what I can find. I think that most of the ones linked/talked about so far are good value but quite over specc'd for what you want/need.

edit:

This looks like a decent deal, I'd get it without the operating system then get hold of a moody version of Windows for it (I have a copy of XP you are welcome to). There is a cheaper option (£170) which will be streaks ahead of your current system but will date quicker so I think it's worth the extra money for the one linked. I've never bought a complete system from Novatech but always had good service from them when I bought components.

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/pc/range/origin.html

On this subject it is impossible to be condescending to me :)
Rik; don't forget to add VAT to the price.

£250 tops, and the specs are good

Moog; that looks interesting. So it doesn't come with Windows but I can 'borrow' a copy and install that? Mmm.
I will see what Tesco plu staff discount have to offer and do a bit more research myself. Thanks everyone.
Now, really, anyone know why I cannot get in to my Flickr account? Losing it would be a nightmare.

Yep no Windows but I can burn you an XP disk and you'll be good to go.

And I can use my old HP monitor?

Will, you haven't lost your Flickr account. Have you checked you are using the correct 'username' and password combination?